So what 3E adventures were worst?

[R_kajdi]

Encounter at Blackwall keep was definetly a stinker. As well spire of long shadows was way too hard. Room 5 almost TPK'ed the group (twice )

I've read over both of these. Spire looks a bit hard, but that's sort of the point-- my plan is to over level the characters a bit to make things a little easier. Blackwall Keep seems to be almost a horror version of a standard adventure. Everything goes alright, until these crazy worm zombies start showing up where they really shouldn't. A decent player group and a motivated DM seem like they could really make it the eye opener adventure.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I'd be curious to see what you thought of the adventure after you read it!

It's great to get responses like this. I downloaded it but haven't read it yet. However I will certainly do so since you took time to respond to me.

 

[pogre]

World's Largest Dungeon - it just was such a disappointment.

RttTOEE at least had some cool encounters that I could scavenge.

 

[elmuthalleth]

In my 3.5 campaign ,I ran ( in that order )

- Sunless citadel ( the PCs liked it , especially the role-play w the kobolds . Erky Timbers became a recurrent NPC )
-Forge of Fury ( not bad , but a repetition of SC , IMHO )
-Speaker in dreams ( the best adventure , so far )
- a home-made adventure
- What evil lurks ( I had the two villains escape thru the Plane of Shadow , because they were overhelming , simply - but the adventure has a real horror twist - one of the best I DMed )
- Heart of Nightfang Spire ( a bit boring in some sections , especially for the rogue - too many undead and constructs )

The next adventures will be :

- Old Embers never Die ( from dungeon magazine 100 )
- Lost Temple of Demogorgon ( dungeon magazine )
- TBD
- Lord of the Iron fortress
- Bastion of Broken souls

If you have some suggestions

 

[diaglo]

Hmm..guess I'll steer clear of these Eberron modules should I decide to start running a Eberron campaign.

i hope you do. (edit: steer clear that is.)

they really are as bad as everyone is saying.

 

[GQuail]

I have to say, while I understand it is very much the point of the Tomb of Horrors, this...

you run the ToH to teach your players a lesson in not being stupid. It's a Darwinian winnowing kind of thing.

...is not the way I enjoy spending by Thursday afternoons. And clearly neither did the guy who first mentioned ToH. While I wouldn't call it the "worst" adventure, I can see why some people would.

Also, this...

Heh? They've played it before? Why would one run it again with the exact same group?

...seems interesting to me. RPG adventures are mostly one-time deals - there are very few which can be replayed with the same group of players unless you gamble that they've forgotten it. (Ravenloft is one that comes to mind, purposefully designed with some flexibility and one I've heard some people runnign reguarly on Halloween) However, as the adventure you consider a "learning experience", as an adventure oft remembered from the early era of D&D, and as an adventure the OP had modified somewhat and the players hadn't ran in years... it seems one of the best choices to me.

But clearly, we disagree on the usefulness of this adventure, and that's fair enough. To be honest, I'd still like to give the Tomb of Horrors to my own group one time, albeit I may be wary about letting them do it with thier long-term characters! ;-) I think of Calvin's dad when people say that watching your party die again and again is "character building" - but then, maybe tha'ts just becuase I haven't run the gauntlet?...

 

[Qualidar]

i hope you do. (edit: steer clear that is.)

they really are as bad as everyone is saying.

That first Ebberon trilogy out of Dungeon magazine would be my vote for worst 3e adventure(s). They were repurposed RPGA adventures, I believe: way below the usual level of Dungeon's adventures. That's not true of the later Dungeon Eberron adventures: those were top shelf.

 

[Voadam]

The next adventures will be :

- Old Embers never Die ( from dungeon magazine 100 )
- Lost Temple of Demogorgon ( dungeon magazine )
- TBD
- Lord of the Iron fortress
- Bastion of Broken souls

If you have some suggestions

I'd consider Hellstone Deep (I think that is the name of it) by Monkeygod Press/High Moon Media for the end one. Bastion has wierd cosmological unborn soul plot stuff while Hellstone is more straightforward go to Hell and fight devils for levels 17-20. It is possible to link the devils in LotIF to some of the diabolic plots in HD.

Also note the change in 3.0 to 3.5 pit fiend CR in LotIF. 3.5 Horned devils slot in at the old 3.0 pit fiend CR if you don't want the CR 20 overkill in that big mass end fight.

 

[smerwin29]

That first Ebberon trilogy out of Dungeon magazine would be my vote for worst 3e adventure(s). They were repurposed RPGA adventures, I believe: way below the usual level of Dungeon's adventures. That's not true of the later Dungeon Eberron adventures: those were top shelf.

They were not RPGA events really. They were adaptations of the D&D Open that ran at GenCon.

 

[Jim Hague]

I forgot to add: WLD was a stinker too, if you try to play it as a full campaign and not rip it apart and get sixteen or so individual dungeons to place in your world. My group tried to play it and... whoo boy I would have had more fun playing Gauntlet.

One of the largest threads on ENWorld here would seem to disagree with you there. I'm biased, of course.

I think WLD gets bagged on so severely by some because, frankly, there are sections that could have been done a hell of a lot better. The first version of the Pyrefaust was a wreck before it was edited, but Region A, the intro, the hook that should have drawn players into the Awesomeness...well, it's a lot of empty rooms and repetitive descriptions.

I'm personally very, very glad that fans of the WLD took the time and made suggestions on how to fill regions out or change them entirely out. As written, though...Region A is dull. Bad thing for a mega-dungeon to be.

I do wonder what folks thought of the other Regions; I've gotten a lot of good to excellent feedback on things like the World Tree and celestial garrison. Both Regions, I note, that I didn't write.